The present invention relates generally to a dispensing container with small premoisturized cloths, especially where the cloths are swabs impregnated with an anti-septic and stacked in folded form in the container. Each swab is formed to be pulled out one after the other through an opening in the container.
One type of dispensing container is known from DE-OS 24 05 793, in which premoisturized cloths are separated by transverse perforations or notches and extend through an opening. Projections extend along the edge of the opening for engagement in the perforations or notches in the cloths so as to permit one cloth at a time to be severed. This type of container therefore requires that each individual cloth be vertically drawn exactly against the projections in the opening in order to obtain reliable severing. Otherwise, severing of one cloth from the next may fail to take place.
Another type of dispensing container is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,823,089 (De Franco 1956) in which a plurality of rectangular tissues are connected to each other at two diagonally opposite corners. The tissues are folded to appear as stacked isosceles trapezoids to enable a portion of the uppermost tissue to be pulled through a slot, the slot being adjacent to an edge of the container. The uppermost tissue will always have a portion extending through the slot.
Each tissue is pulled out of the container individually, because the tissues separate in the connection area between tissues when the edges of the successive tissue engages the edges of the slot, building up resistance that exceeds the tearing strength of the connection area.
However, the portion of the uppermost tissue that extends through the slot is subject to contamination, which is undesireable in environments requiring optimal sterilization.